The Kamala Harris campaign is fundraising off a viral confrontation at the Democratic debate between her and Joe Biden over race.
Perhaps the most memorable moment of Thursday’s debate was a jab from the California senator directed at the 76-year-old Biden over race issues. She declared, “That little girl is me,” in regard to Biden’s past reticence over forced integration of public schools through busing. She had previously criticized Biden’s recent comments about working with two notorious segregationists decades ago.
“It was not only that, but you also worked with them to oppose busing. There was a little girl in California who was part of the second class to integrate her public schools and she was bused to school every day,” Harris, 54, told Biden. “That little girl was me.”
During the debate, her campaign tweeted out a photo of her as a young child with pigtails and staring fiercely into the camera. The caption read, “There was a little girl in California who was bussed to school. That little girl was me. #DemDebate.”
There was a little girl in California who was bussed to school. That little girl was me. #DemDebate pic.twitter.com/XKm2xP1MDH
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) June 28, 2019
Hours after the exchange, a shirt with that same photo was on sale on her campaign’s online store for about $30.
During the debate, Biden responded to Harris by saying that before he was elected to the Senate from Delaware in 1972, he worked to get people who were incarcerated out of prison, drawing a subtle comparison to Harris, who served as the district attorney for San Francisco from 2004 to 2011 and attorney general of California from 2011 to 2017.
“It’s a mischaracterization of my position across the board. I do not praise racists. That is not true.” Biden said. “If we want to have this campaign litigated on who supports civil rights, whether I did or not, I’m happy to do that.
“I was a public defender. I didn’t become a prosecutor. I left a good form to become a public defender. When in fact my city was in flames because of the assassination of Dr. King,” Biden said.
Biden is the front-runner among the more than 20 contenders for president.
